Plug having independent axial and lateral compression means

ABSTRACT

Plug having independent axial and lateral compression means for plugging holes in a container, a housing and the like is disclosed. The plug complies to irregular surfaces and reacts in three directions utilizing compression and shearing forces to effect a pressure tight seal.

United StatesPatent 1 1 Baler Dec. 11, 1973 [54] PLUG HAVING INDEPENDENT AXIAL AND 951,437 3/1910 Gehrke 220/39 R LATERAL COMPRESSION MEANS 1,636,135 7/1927 Hughes 220/25 2,311,758 2/1943 Johanssom. 174/65 SS X [76] Inventor: John P- Baler, 61 W. P y, 2,354,069 7/1944 Shields 220/25 Greece, N.Y. 2,408,366 10/1946 Boyer.... 85/1 JP UX 2,476,074 7/1949 Unger 174/152 R [22] 1972 2,672,500 3 1954 Bondon 174/153 R 21 App}. No: 2 110 2,919,147 12/1959 Nenzell 285/220 X 3,160,054 12/1964 Cohen et al. 85/1 JP 3,689,084 9/1972 Smedley 277/147 [52] US. Cl 174/152 R,"85/l JP, 138/98,

0/39 R, N 1 7/166 Primary Examiner-Laramie E. Askin [51] Int. CL... 1101b 17/30, F16j 15/10, 865d 53/00 s l R Genca [58] Field of Search 285/212, 220; 174/18, 65 R, 65 SS, 151, 152 R, 153 R;

339/126 R, 126 RS; 24/73 115; 85/1 JP; [57] ABSTRACT 13 92, 97 93; 151 7 3 220 25 39 R, 4 Plug having independent axial and lateral compression R; 277/32 101 123 133, 142 147 157, means for plugging holes in a container, a housing and 162 166 182, 136 189 the like is disclosed. The plug complies to irregular surfaces and reacts in three directions utilizing com- [56] References Cit d pression and shearing forces to effect a pressure tight UNITED STATES PATENTS 571,096 ll [1896 Phillips 220/25 10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PLUG HAVING INDEPENDENT AXIAL AND LATERAL COMPRESSION MEANS The present invention relates to means for plugging and sealing leaks and holes in containers, tanks, housings and the like and more particularly to a three dimensional mechanical seal or plug.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A problem of long standing in the art is that of plugging and sealing holes or voids in containers, tanks, housings and the like such as the type that occur by rusting, blow holes or damages to containers, housings and the like for containing fluids and liquids. Although the present invention is suited for more general applications, such as water tanks, it is particularly adapted for repairing automobile gasoline tanks without removing the gasoline tank from the automobile. Thus, while welding, brazing and soldering have proven to be satisfactory methods for plugging such holes or voids, they are dangerous methods of repairing such holes in gasoline tanks especially while the tank is still assembled to the automobile. On the other hand, other attempts such as the use of a gasoline resistant plastic or neoprene washer interposed between a metal washer and the tank under longitudinal compression by a bolt is not entirely satisfactory especially when the tank has a rough or irregular surface. Accordingly, an improved mechanical seal or plug solving the aforesaid problems is greatly needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described, a three dimensional mechanical seal or plug in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention for plugging and sealing a hole in a tank comprises a self-tapping screw, threadable into the hole and a resilient compressible ring member impervious to any chemical, liquid or fluid contained in the tank is coaxially disposed on the screw and interposed between the tank and the head of the self tapping screw so that the ring member may be compressed endwise between the head of the screw and tank as desired. Also included is a lateral compression means for applying uniform lateral pressure on the ring member such as a variable diameter hoop member coaxially disposed with the ring member and self tapping screw for compressing the ring member laterally. The hoop member has a longitudinal length slightly less than the longitudinal length or thickness of the ring member so that the ring member can be compressed laterally and longitudinally by the screw or hoop member. The ring member is not only placed in a compressional mode but also in a shear mode since the ring member reacts against the threads of the self tapping screw and any opening between the screw and the tank.

In another embodiment of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug, the hoop member is a resilient spring tensioned to reduce the diameter of the ring member when coaxially disposed about the ring member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood upon consideration of the following detailed description taken together with the accompanying drawings in which like elements in various figures have like designations and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug of FIG. 1 taken along line 2-2;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug similar to FIG. 2 just prior to assembling and fastening of the seal or plug to a tank;

FIG. 4 is a top view of another three dimensional mechanical seal or plug in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug of FIG. 4 taken along line 5-5;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a ring member used in the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side sectional view of a tank.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of another embodiment of the invention shown in a three dimensional mechanical seal or plug, and

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of a three dimensional mechanical seal or plug for an electrical connector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 7, a typical automobile gasoline tank is shown in fragmentary cross-sectional side view. The tank includes two thin wall half shells 71, 72 welded at a seam 73. Automobile gasoline tanks generally are mounted on the underside of an automobile exposed to the atmospheric and road elements such as flying rocks, salt and other chemicals which attack the gasoline tanks causing holes by rusting, piercing and perforating. The size of the holes of course may vary from a pin hole to a relatively large hole depending on the above said conditions. For illustrative purposes and to demonstrate the use of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug, the tank 70 includes a hole 74 in the half shell 71. Refer now to FIGS. 1-3.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug 10 includes a resilient compressible ring member 11 having a concentric hole 12 and a self tapping screw 13 having threads 14 suitable for threading into the hole 74 and a head 15 for turning and threading the self tapping screw 13 into the hole 74. The screw 13 is concentrically disposed with the ring member 11 through the hole 12. The screw 13 when threaded into the hole 12 compresses the ring member 11 along a longitudinal axis of the screw 13 between the head 15 and the half shell 71. The three dimensional seal or plug 10 also includes a lateral compression means 16 for applying side pressure uniformly around the ring member 11. The lateral compression means 16 in the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in FIGS. 1-3 includes a variable diameter hoop member or strap 17 such as the type referred to as a hose clamp for laterally compressing the ring member 11. Such means 16 includes the hoop strap 17 having uniformly disposed threads 18 which coact with a threaded bolt 19 tangentially disposed to the hoop strap 17 and rotatably retained in a housing 21 for increasing or decreasing the lateral pressure on the ring member 1 l by decreasing or increasing the diameter of the hoop strap 17 respectively. The ring member 11 has an axial length or thickness greater than the width of the hoop strap 17 so that the head 15 of the screw 13 may compress the ring member 11 axially without interfering with the movement of the hoop strap 17. The hole 12 of the ring member 11 has a diameter of a size to tightly receive the screw 13, however, it should be understood that the thread 14 may be a slip-fit through the hole 12 without departing from the invention since the hoop strap 17 compresses the ring member 11 around the screw 13 and threads 14.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug disposed along a common axis 22 to more clearly show the structural elements of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug 10. Preferably the screw 13 and the lateral compression means 16 are made of stainless steel or other corrosive resistant material. The ring member 11 is made of chemical resistive materials such as plastic or neoprene which are compliant and are not attacked by the fluid or liquid contained in the tank 70.

In the operation of the three dimensional mechanical seal or plug in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in FIGS. 1-3, the self tapping screw 13 and the lateral compression means 16 coact on the ring member 11 to plug and seal the hole 74. Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the screw 13 is positioned coaxially with the ring member 11 through the hole 12. The ring member 11 and the screw 13 are coaxially disposed within the lateral compression means 16 and the screw 13 is threaded into the tank 70 by forming a thread 24 in the shell 71 corresponding to the thread 14 of the screw 13. The lateral compression means 16 is adapted to concentrically receive and act as a restraining wall around the ring member 11 as pressure is applied to the ring member 11 by the screw 13. After the screw 13 is secured in the tank 70, the bolt 19 of the lateral compression means 16 is turned in a manner to laterally compress the ring member 11 against the screw threads 14 in shear and compress and extrude the ring member 11 through any opening 35 around the hole 74, thread 24 and screw thread 14 to provide a pressure tight seal and plug. Thus the mechanical seal 10 of the present invention reacts on the ring member 11 in all directions to afford a good, positive pressure tight seal.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIGS. 4-6 of the drawing, another embodiment of the invention is shown in a three dimension mechanical seal or plug 40. Functionally the seals 10 and 40 are similar in that the ring member 11 is acted upon in all directions to effect a plugging and sealing of the hole 74 in the tank 70. Structurally the seals or plugs 10 and 40 are similar except that ring member 41 having an annular groove 43 is used instead of the ring member 11. Also lateral pressure is applied to the grooved ring member 41 by a spring tensioned ring clamp 44 biased in a manner to always return to a given ring diameter. The ring clamp 44 is also another type of hose clamp and includes arms 45 and 46 for increasing the diameter of the ring clamp 44 by bringing the arms 45 and 46 together. The ring clamp 44 is shown in FIG. 5 as being formed of round diameter spring wire in cross-section; however,- itshould be understood that square or rectangular wire may be employed without departing from the invention since the ring clamp 44 applies lateral pressure toa grooved ring member 41. I

The grooved ring member 41 includes a hole 42 similar to the hole 12 of the ring member 11. The grooved ring member 41 also includes an annular groove adapted to receive the ring clamp 44 so that the ring clamp 44 is annularly disposed around the ring member 41. The three dimension mechanical seal or plug 40 also includes the self tapping screw 13 which is coaxially disposed to the ring member 41 and ring clamp 44. Thus the ring member 41 is similar to the ring member 11 except that it includes the annular groove 43.

The operation of the three dimension mechanical seal or plug 40 is substantially similar to the three dimension mechanical seal 10 except that the ring clamp 44 biases the ring member 41 against the screw threads 14 thus applying lateral pressure to the ring member 41 while the self tapping screw 13 applies pressure longitudinally to the ring member 41 to compress the ring member 41 against the screw 13 and place the ring member 41 in shear and in compression. Thus the ring member 41 seals any opening 35 around the hole 74, thread 24 and screw thread 14 to provide a pressure plug and seal.

Referring now to FIG. 8, of the drawing, another embodiment of the invention is shown in a three dimension mechanical seal or plug 80. The seal is similar to the seal 10 except that a toggle bolt 81 is employed instead of the self tapping screw 13. The toggle bolt 81 may be employed when the opening 74 in the tank 70 is fairly large and a self tapping screw cannot be used. The toggle bolt 81 includes a nut 82 and pivotally mounted arms 83 and 84 which pivot about the nut 82 on a pin 85. A spring (not shown) biases the arms 83 and 84 in an outward direction to coact against the half shell 71 when the toggle bolt 81 is threaded within the nut 82. Thus the toggle bolt 81 may apply longitudinal compression on the ring member 11 by a head 86 of the toggle bolt 81 while the lateral compression means 16 applies lateral pressure uniformly around the ring member 11 to compress the ring member 11 against the bolt 81 and extrude a portion of the ring member 11 through an opening 35 around the hole 74 and bolt 81, thus providing pressure-tight seal for the hole 74. It should be understood that the toggle bolt 81 is used for large openings or holes 74 in the tank 70 and may be inserted from the outside of the tank 70. However, when the hole 74 in the tank 70 may be approached from the inside of the tank as well as outside the tank 70, a common bolt and nut may be used in the present invention since the bolt and nut may apply longitudinal pressure to the ring member 11 while the lateral compression means 16 applies side pressure to the ring member 11 to provide an excellent three dimension mechanical seal or plug since the ring member 11 is acted upon in all directions.

As was mentioned hereinbefore, the present invention is suited for more general application and may be used in a pressure tight electrical connector or plug 90 as shown in FIG. 9. The pressure tight electrical connector or plug 90 is shown threaded to a housing 93 having threads 97. The connector or plug 90 includes a bolt 91 having threads 92 and a head 94 having a bore 95, adapted to concentrically receive a terminal 98 insulatedby insulator 99. The terminal 98 includes a lug 101 and terminal ends 96 and 102 for connecting lead wires (not shown) thereto so that pressure tight electrical connections may be made through the housing 93.

The lug 101 anchors the terminal 98 in the insulator 99.

In accordance with the invention, the pressure tight electrical connector or plug 90 includes the ring member 11 and lateral compression means 16 which coact to provide the pressure tight seal in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, that is, the head 94 of the bolt 91 compresses the ring member 11 while the lateral compression means 16 laterally compresses the ring member 11 to fill all voids if any exist between the threads 92 and 97.

Other modifications and variations of the described specific embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is understood that the described specific examples of the present invention are presented merely by way of example to facilitate a complete understanding of the invention, and such modifications, changes, or variations as are embraced by the spirit and scope of the appended claims, are contemplated as within the purview of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A plug for plugging and sealing a hole in a container, said plug comprising:

a. a resilient compressible ring member having a hole therethrough corresponding in size to said hole in said container b. axial compression means including a threaded member extending through said hole in said ring member for compressing said ring member axially when coupled to said container through said hole in said container, and

c. lateral compression means surrounding said ring member for compressing said ring member laterally independent of said axial compression means.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said ring member is chemically inert to a given chemical contained in said container.

3. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said lateral compression means includes a variable diameter hoop.

4. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said threaded member includes a head contiguous to said ring member for applying axial pressure thereto.

5. The invention defind in claim 1 wherein said threaded member is a self tapping screw.

6. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said threaded member of said axial compression means includes an insulated electrical terminal coaxially disposed through said threaded member for providing an electrical connection therethrough.

7. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said lateral compression means is a hose clamp.

8. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said threaded member is a toggle bolt.

9. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said lat eral compression means includes a resilient annular spring clamp surrounding said ring member for compressing said ring member laterally.

10. The invention defined in claim 9 wherein said ring member has an annular groove for receiving said resilient annular spring clamp therein. 

1. A plug for plugging and sealing a hole in a container, said plug comprising: a. a resilient compressible ring member having a hole therethrough corresponding in size to said hole in said container b. axial compression means including a threaded member extending through said hole in said ring member for compressing said ring member axially when coupled to said container through said hole in said container, and c. lateral compression means surrounding said ring member for comprEssing said ring member laterally independent of said axial compression means.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said ring member is chemically inert to a given chemical contained in said container.
 3. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said lateral compression means includes a variable diameter hoop.
 4. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said threaded member includes a head contiguous to said ring member for applying axial pressure thereto.
 5. The invention defind in claim 1 wherein said threaded member is a self tapping screw.
 6. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said threaded member of said axial compression means includes an insulated electrical terminal coaxially disposed through said threaded member for providing an electrical connection therethrough.
 7. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said lateral compression means is a hose clamp.
 8. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said threaded member is a toggle bolt.
 9. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said lateral compression means includes a resilient annular spring clamp surrounding said ring member for compressing said ring member laterally.
 10. The invention defined in claim 9 wherein said ring member has an annular groove for receiving said resilient annular spring clamp therein. 